Rainforest ecologist David Hughes has a special interest in parasites, especially those that accomplish their ends by mind control: invading the brain of a hapless host -- ants, in this case -- and causing that creature to do its bidding. Scientists like Hughes say 'zombie ants' offer new insights into the role behavior plays in spreading disease.

As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Some scientists are sounding the alarm about the wastefulness of using helium -- a rare, non-renewable gas -- to fill party balloons. Why? As an essential resource in technologies such as medical imaging, rocket engines, and surveillance devices, it turns out that helium does a lot more than give our balloons a lift. And despite being the second most abundant element in the universe, most of our supply in the Earth’s atmosphere simply floats off into space and is lost.

Penn State geographer Alan Taylor studied a mixed conifer forest in the Lassen National Forest in northern California known as the Cub Creek Research Natural Area, site of a wildfire in 2008. He compared burn patterns from the 1880s, before fire suppression policy took effect, with those from the 2008 fire. Taylor analyzed satellite data and field measurements using a statistical model known as "Random Forest," which predicts fire severity patterns based on characteristics of the terrain, fuels, vegetation, and weather. He found that, in general, the burning patterns were similar but with one important difference.